Rockin' Around Dolly Parton's Christmas Tree

Rock Around Me, I Am Dolly Parton's Christmas Tree, Damn It!

Dolly Parton & some other music types decorate Christmas Trees to support their favorite causes. 

Did I mention Dolly Parton decorated one? It's the one featured above, Dolly Parton trimmed it. Oh and that's the tree Dolly did by the way...


Opryland’s Parade of Trees Up For Bid During Online Auction

Dolly Parton, Charlie Daniels, and Brenda Lee join Reba McEntire, Kenny Chesney, Little Big Town, Martina McBride, Sara Evans, LeAnn Rimes, The Doobie Brothers, Zac Brown Band, and others to raise money for their favorite charities this holiday season in a new attraction at Gaylord Opryland Resort. Parade of Trees—a stunning collection of 15 spectacularly decorated Christmas trees—is now on display throughout the resort’s nine acres of indoor gardens as part of Gaylord Opryland’s A Country Christmas. Each tree is up for grabs to the highest online bidder with the funds raised benefiting the not-for-profit organization designated for the tree. The winning bidder will receive the tree’s decorations and all the prizes for that particular tree. Getting a little sneak peek under the tree, find out what is under Dolly’s, Charlie’s, and Brenda’s tree. More information on each artists gifts and goodies is located on the Opryland Parade of Trees website: www.OprylandParadeOfTrees.com. Dolly Parton’s tree which benefits The Imagination Library will include four tickets to Dollywood including a meet & greet with Dolly, signed 8 x 10 photo, one personal book from Dolly, one cookbook, and 38 Imagination Library books (4 of them will be autographed). Charlie Daniels tree will benefit the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt and Galilean Home Ministries. Under his tree, bidders can find show tickets for two concerts in 2015 including meet & greet with Charlie, an autographed Cowboy hat, an autographed Guitar with case, an autographed Gold fiddle with case, along with a basket full of Charlie Daniels goodies (T-Shirt, Hat, Books, CD’s, sheet music for “Devil Went Down to Georgia” (autographed), and fiddle bows). Brenda Lee’s tree will benefit NARAS/MusiCares, and will include a private lunch for 4 with Brenda at the Country Music Hall of Fame, including a guided Hall of Fame tour, an autographed “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” gold record, an autographed collectible “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” ornament, Country Music Hall of Fame gift bag and Malt Shop Memories souvenir backpack, autographed Malt Shop Memories scrapbook signed by many artists of the 50s and 60s, ornaments from The Beach Boys, Martha & The Vandellas, The Temptations, Dion, and others! Bids are being accepted online at www.OprylandParadeOfTrees.com through Dec. 31.

Madonna "You Don't Want To Be The Smartest Person In The Room"

Credit: Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott

"You don’t want to be the smartest person in the room; you want to be the dumbest in the room. You want to be surrounded by other thinking people who are going to say something that makes you think, 'Oh, my God, that's an amazing idea. Why didn't I think of that" - Madonna to David Blaine Interview Magazine 

Wow I love this! Welcome back Madge it's been a while since you have been relevant and said something with your inner voice that was actually ineresting. Oh and by the way this statement is something I 100% agree with. It sucks being that person.

Don't get me wrong. When I was eighteen I will never forget being a young impressionable gay boy seeing Madonna's Burning Up video playing at club in Seattle, WA.

She was inspiring and edgy. Madonna has always been able to blend pop culture, artistry and commerce seamlessly throughout her entire career. Until the past few years...

Yep, she has faltered in a quite epic manner. Her last two albums have been really lame and the singles off of them have been yawn fests. 

Her current chat with Magician David Blaine in Interview Magazine is inspiring. It reminds me of why I liked Madonna in the first Fucking place. 

Credit: Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott

Her intelligence and savvy are on full display here: 

"I remember having conversations with Keith Haring and with Basquiat about the importance of your art being accessible to people," she recalled. "That was their big thing—it should be available to everyone. It was so important for Keith to be able to draw on subways and walls. And Basquiat used to say to me, 'You're so lucky that you make music, because music comes out of radios everywhere.' He thought that what I did was more pop, more connected to pop culture than what he did. Little did he know that his art would become pop culture. But it's not like we really had discussions about the meaning of art. I remember hearing them talk about those things." - Madonna to David Blaine Interview Magazine 

Welcome back Big M. You suddenly became important,interesting and relevant again by being honest and not desperately trying too hard. 

You Go! 

Go Madonna at:  

http://www.madonna.com/

http://www.interviewmagazine.com/

Stay "White" With Sandy Zacky

"I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, with every Christmas card I write
May your days be merry and bright, and may all your Christmases be white" - "White Christmas" Irving Berlin 

OK, it's December 1st and Thanksgiving is over. Time to turn and face the reality that Christmas is only twenty four quick days away.

Well every year at Entertain Me we kick off the month of giving with our resident chanteuse Sandy with a "Y" not "E" Zacky and her beautiful rendition of White Christmas.

I actually saw her perform this live at her show at Cal State Northridge, CSUN for short in 2008 around coincidentally enough, Christmas time...

Sandy knocked them dead with her show and made everyone in the house sentimental and all warm and fuzzy with her special interpretation of this Holiday classic.

Deck those halls and hang those balls Christmas will be here before you know it people! 

Sandy singing White Christmas is a great kick off for the countdown to C-day. Sleigh it girl!

Jump here for singing Sandy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueCuT6tB50E

Stay "White" with Sandy Zacky at: 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Sandy-Zacky-Fan-Page/142692019103428

http://www.sandyzacky.com/

http://www.showmetalkradio.com/zacky.php

Do It Clean With Jack Mackenroth

Jack Mackenroth Does It Clean

"I've got a handful of this, What do I do with it
I've got a barrel of this, What do I do with it 
I do it clean" - "Do It Clean" Echo & The Bunnymen

Project Runway star and HIV activist, Jack Mackenroth is her to help you clean up your act!

His latest campaign in the fight against HIV stigma is "The HIV Shower Selfie Challenge" with hashtag #weareALLclean bit.ly/CUREAIDS and it’s going viral and has already been translated into 7 different languages and counting.

It's a sexy, selfie crusade of sorts. You contribute an image of yourself in the shower or bath—and hopefully donating to an amazing cause.

So grab your bar of soap and let's be clean and show that we are all equal regardless of our HIV status!!

MS: You've had HIV for a long time; at what age did you contract it?

JM: I was diagnosed when I was twenty-one, but my sero-conversion happened when I was nineteen or twenty. I've had it my whole adult life.

MS: Does the length of time you've had it inform the way you present yourself as an activist to people? It's not flippant in any way, but you have a sense of humor, also your videos are very friendly and accessible.

JM: Yeah, I've been through enough of shaming and discrimination, all of that BS. Negativity doesn't really work and certainly doesn’t make people feel good. Critics have gotten on my case saying: You're trying to glamorize HIV, or that I’m not taking it seriously enough. Well you know what? I know my truth and fear-based education does not work. What do you tell these kids today? I'm like, listen, you don't want it, above all protect yourself, but try not to live in shame and denial if you do become HIV positive. For EVERYONE the priority is to get educated and get tested because now we have PrEP, which is a great tool against HIV. There is also PEP (like the morning after pill for HIV if you think you have been exposed in the last 48 hours. There's tons of promising information out there, but if were not talking about HIV and the stigma, fear and discrimination are going to keep people from not doing what they need to do to keep themselves and the community healthy. 

There are a lot of HIV positive people who reach out to me that are freaking out and I always tell them "You're probably going to be fine, just go to the doctor and get on a treatment that works for you." If you catch HIV early and you take your medication like you are supposed to, statistically you prognosis is excellent. The other good news is we now know that if you do take your meds and your viral load is undetectable, or you are virally suppressed, that you are also not contagious.  

                                                           "You've Got This"

MS: Early detection and taking your medication is important. If you do both everything will be fine.

JM: Well I credit my long-term survival to luck and intuition and taking early action. I come from a medical family. My dad was a doctor and my mom was a nurse and we always had a pill for every malady. When I was first diagnosed there was only AZT, which was fairly toxic for many people, but I liked the feeling and empowerment of taking something that might work. Back then a lot of people were waiting and not taking the meds available because they thought they were poison - the doctors recommended that you wait until your T-cells fell below 250 and then you would go on the meds. They now know in retrospect that was a bad idea. When your immune system is that depleted it’s very difficult to rebound. Where as if you catch it quickly and go on effective medication you can expect to live a normal life span.

MS: What your doing is great; it really is designed to make people feel comfortable.

JM: Thanks I appreciate that. I think the HIV community gets enough negative messaging from others. We here things like "Shame on you. You should know better. How can you get HIV at your age? Use a condom!” and I think, "Fuck you!" We haven't done anything you probably haven’t done. I’d like to shake the hand of someone who has used a condom EVERY SINGLE TIME they had ANY kind of sexual contact. Keep your stones to yourself. 

MS: There seems to be less of a stigma than there used to be.

JM: I disagree. In some communities/areas I think that may be true, But HIV stigma is alive and well. Often it depends on where you live and whom you are around. It’s very easy to live with HIV in secrecy now. Only visibility changes public opinion. I could never keep it in. It felt like I was in the closet all over again. That's just not me I'm horrible at keeping a personal secret anyway. So I went big and told everyone on national TV when I did it on Project Runway. (laughs) Now I don’t ever have to have that awkward conversation ever again. 

#weareALLclean

MS: So talk about your current project The HIV Shower Selfie Challenge.

JM: I literally just launched Monday - that's why I said OMG I need a break and called you. I'm working with this gay social media app called MOOVZ and they're very big in Asia and Latin America. It's sort of like Twitter meets Facebook though I'm not very good at it yet. It’s fairly new in the US but growing quickly. Their corporate offices are six hours ahead of me, and the other promoter involved is a model actor and singer, Chris Salvatore. He lives in Los Angeles so he is three hours ahead of me, so putting this all together is challenging. A bit of a cluster fuck. Please don’t print that!  (laughs). 

MS: Yeah I know about those cluster fuck type things. (laughs)

JM: So I had this idea, I thought: why isn't there an ALS ice bucket challenge for HIV? There should be. I've worked in non-profits and HIV activism for a long time and have done different fundraisers; it's really hard to raise money for HIV/AIDS now because nobody sees the urgency anymore. People are not getting sick like they used to and unfortunately that is what really motivated people in the 80s and 90s. I decided to figure out an HIV challenge that was media savvy and celebrities would be like: Another excuse for KK to show her ass, and would possibly have the legs to catch on. I posted my photo at noon on Monday and it's blown up already, my twitter feed is exploding! Queerty, Instinct Magazine, The Huffington Post, BuzzFeed, FrontiersLA, Towleroad, PinkNewsUK, TheBody.com have all covered it. That's in the first 48 hours so I am hoping that's a good sign. 

MS: Taking a shower selfie and using it to fund a cure for HIV is a fun idea! I saw some negative comments already on Queerty about using sex to raise money. Fuck that, there is nothing wrong with it, it sells and it works.

JM: Queerty is notorious for their negative commenters. I don't listen to the negativity unless it is really a constructive suggestion. I just keep trying to out good work. I always wonder what the haters are doing to help their community. Very little I suspect. Unless you are a sex addict and it becomes a problem in your life, having sex is healthy. We all know sex sells. Why not leverage it for a good cause?

MS: Where is the money going that you raise from the HIV Shower Selfie Challenge?

JM: Right now the beneficiary is Housing Works—a New York based agency that combats HIV/AIDS and homelessness but has global influence. I approached—and am still working on getting some larger, global organizations involved, which I think would help the campaign a lot.

So far the fundraising call to action has not really taken off. There are now over 2000 #weareALLclean  shower selfies online but less than one percent of those people have actually donated money. And I want to reiterate that 100% of the proceeds go to charity. A commenter on Queerty implied that some of the money was going to line my pockets. That’s insulting and ludicrous. The money goes directly to non-profits. I don’t see a penny. That’s not what this is about. If I wanted to get rich I wouldn’t be working in HIV activism. It’s not a lucrative field. 

Regardless if you are male or female, young or old, straight or LGBTQ—please join Jack and thousands of others from around the world and be one of the first to take the HIV Shower Selfie Challenge. And if you don't want to soap up in the shower you can always just donate to show support. I did!


Find out how to participate or donate at the link below:

bit.ly/CUREAIDS

Find out more about Jack at: http://www.jackmackenroth.com/

Enjoy The Silence, Pentatonix

PTX: Peace Is Heavenly

With the world spinning around in all directions for better or worse,  it's always nice to take a moment for a little peace.

Pentatonix have just released the video of their version of Silent Night off of the gangs smash hit Holiday CD That's Christmas To Me.

Take a break from the chaos of the world around you and enjoy this beautiful rendition of the Christmas classic.

Have a wonderful Tuesday and remember, to quote the late great Maya Angelou: 

“Hate, it has caused a lot of problems in the world, but has not solved one yet.”

                                                                   Silent Night

Have a peaceful Holiday with PTX at: http://ptxmas.ptxofficial.com/

Paging Katy Perry For Superbowl 2015

Who's That Girl? Katy Perry That's Who

While checking out E! News this morning the headline that stood out to me the most was the Katy Perry would be performing the iconic half time show for 2015's Superbowl.

Now I am not saying Katy Perry sucks, I have liked a few songs she has done, Firework for one comes to mind. But she, at least to me, does not really have the cache of a Beyonce' or a Madonna. Her career is pretty feather weight by comparison.

Oh well, not my company not my choice of who to use. While I am sure her performance will be entertaining I'm just not sure it will reach the potential high that viewers expect from this yearly extravaganza.

Tune in and find out when Superbowl 2015 airs!

Hang with Katy and kiss some girls at: http://www.katyperry.com/

Get Sassy, With Vassy

Vassy & Crystal Waters Are Hustlin'

"I was in the high school choir and was told I couldn't sing. Then, years later, that teacher heard me singing on a national radio station and ended up writing an apology letter, which is kind of funny." - Vassy

This quote is from a full length interview I did with the sassy Vassy for Chorus and Verse about her single "Beautiful Day."

Cut to it here: http://www.chorusandverse.com/content.php?id=20120607A

Well the Australian born Ms. Karaglorgos, her last name, recently went number #1 on the Billboard Dance Chart with Hustlin'. The song pays homage to Crystal Waters’ nineties house classic, "Gypsy Woman."

Crystal Waters has come out in full support of the record, even appearing in the song’s music video. 

You've come a long way Ms. Thing! Check out the video after the jump!

                                                              Hustlin'  

Hey, it's Vassy at: 

https://www.facebook.com/Vassy
https://twitter.com/vassy